New Zealand's largest freight gateway, Port of Tauranga, has shown early signs of a bumper year with growth in container and dairy export volumes for the first half of the 2016 financial year.

This is despite a fall in log exports over the period. Revenue for the six months to December 2015, was down 9.8 per cent following the exclusion of Tapper Transport revenue, equity accounting this business as an associate company with its merger into Coda Group. The reported and underlying net profit after tax was NZ$38.6 million.

Dredging News Online reported that the result was slightly ahead of the prior year's interim profit after tax of NZ$38.5 million, but lower than the prior half year reported net profit of NZ$42.6 million, which included a non-recurring gain on the sale of associate companies of NZ$4.1 million.

The result was supported by a strong 10.4 per cent rise in container volumes to 470,928 TEUs, reinforcing Port of Tauranga's position as New Zealand's largest container terminal and the country's premier freight gateway.

Chairman David Pilkington says the Port of Tauranga has delivered a strong six month result, especially in the face of the decline in log export volumes.

'Our strategy of extending the port's freight catchment across New Zealand continues to deliver results for shareholders and the country's exporters and importers."

Chief Executive Mark Cairns says the port is in an excellent position to continue to grow its cargo volumes as more exporters and importers recognise the value the port strategy delivers with reliable, fast and cost-efficient routes to markets.

"With the Tauranga harbour channel dredging proceeding well, we are on track to complete our contractual commitments with freight and logistics management company Kotahi by July, in order to see larger vessels starting to call at the container terminal by the end of 2016.

'This is the final building block in our five year NZ$350 million investment programme to prepare for larger ships, which have the potential to deliver annual savings of as much as NZ$300 million to New Zealand shippers,” Mark says.

"In the medium term, with the arrival of larger ships, we will be handling significantly larger volumes of cargo per shipment. We are looking at every aspect of our operations to ensure that we are ready for the step change later this year."